Featuring Matthew Johnson.
This presentation will present new data from a study of people who have intentionally used psychedelics for therapeutic purposes outside of a clinical research or medical context. Over 1,200 people who had used a psychedelic (including psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, DMT/ayahuasca, and mescaline) to treat symptoms of depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) completed this retrospective survey. Special emphasis was placed on a wide range of outcomes, including improvement, worsening, or no effects on symptoms. The majority reported improved symptoms although substantial numbers of participants endorsed a worsening or no effect on symptoms. We found that more intense mystical experience during psychedelic sessions was related to improved outcomes, but that challenging experiences were unrelated to clinical outcomes, generally consistent with clinical research trials. In this study we examined and found strong validation for new, ultra-brief versions of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (the MEQ-4) and the Challenging Experience Questionnaire (CEQ-7) that lend themselves for measuring these critical constructs for psychedelics research in situations that do not allow for the assessment of longer scales, such as measurement in fMRI brain imaging sessions, repeated use throughout the timecourse of a psychedelic session, and assessments in potential Phase 4 (post-FDA approval) non-research medical sessions.
4:10 pm
Main Stage
Nov 5
Featuring Matthew Johnson.
This presentation will present new data from a study of people who have intentionally used psychedelics for therapeutic purposes outside of a clinical research or medical context. Over 1,200 people who had used a psychedelic (including psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, DMT/ayahuasca, and mescaline) to treat symptoms of depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) completed this retrospective survey. Special emphasis was placed on a wide range of outcomes, including improvement, worsening, or no effects on symptoms. The majority reported improved symptoms although substantial numbers of participants endorsed a worsening or no effect on symptoms. We found that more intense mystical experience during psychedelic sessions was related to improved outcomes, but that challenging experiences were unrelated to clinical outcomes, generally consistent with clinical research trials. In this study we examined and found strong validation for new, ultra-brief versions of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (the MEQ-4) and the Challenging Experience Questionnaire (CEQ-7) that lend themselves for measuring these critical constructs for psychedelics research in situations that do not allow for the assessment of longer scales, such as measurement in fMRI brain imaging sessions, repeated use throughout the timecourse of a psychedelic session, and assessments in potential Phase 4 (post-FDA approval) non-research medical sessions.